political_talk

Bachmann Jumps the Shark Again, Likens Financial Reform to Mussolini’s Italy

Rep. Michelle Bachmann (R-MN), who can always be counted on for hyperbole and assorted fabrications chained together in to her very own special drivel-language, jumped the shark, yet again, during a Tuesday evening webcast with a Tea Party PAC. She likened the financial reform bill currently in Congress with the policies of the fascist government in Italy during Mussolini's reign:

Let's remember really what this is. This has a lot in common with Italy in the 1930s and they way Italy dealt with economics. It still continues private ownership of business but government is in control.

So government control of the private business, while it's private ownership, that's still at the end of the day the federal government virtually having a say over private business. We lose freedoms; we lose economic competitiveness.

And don’t forget, Italy is in tough shape financially, and that’s not what we want for the United States.

President Obama: With all due deference to the separation of powers.......

On January 27, 2010, in his first State of the Union address to Congress and the American people, President Barack Obama leveled a strong recrimination at the Supreme Court for the controversial ruling made in the Citizens United case, decided on January 21, 2010.View the video excerpt below. The full transcript, along with the full video of the SOTU is here.

With all due deference to separation of powers, last week the Supreme Court reversed a century of law to open the floodgates for special interests – including foreign corporations – to spend without limit in our elections. Well I don't think American elections should be bankrolled by America's most powerful interests, or worse, by foreign entities. They should be decided by the American people, and that's why I'd urge Democrats and Republicans to pass a bill that corrects some of these problems

President Barack Obama's Address on The State of the Union, January 27, 2010 - Full Transcript and Video

The Full transcript is below the video.

Madam Speaker, Vice President Biden, members of Congress, distinguished guests, and fellow Americans:

Our Constitution declares that from time to time, the President shall give to Congress information about the state of our union.  For 220 years, our leaders have fulfilled this duty. They've done so during periods of prosperity and tranquility.  And they've done so in the midst of war and depression; at moments of great strife and great struggle.

VIDEO & FULL TEXT: TED KENNEDY Speech at the Democratic National Convention 2008

Senator Edward "Ted" Kennedy's speech at the Democratic National Convention in Denver:

August 25, 2008

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Caroline¹.

My fellow Democrats, my fellow Americans, it is so wonderful to be here.

And nothing -- nothing is going to keep me away from this special gathering tonight.

I have come here tonight to stand with you to change America, to restore its future, to rise to our best ideals, and to elect Barack Obama President of the United States.

As I look ahead, I am strengthened by family and friendship. So many of you have been with me in the happiest days and the hardest days. Together we have known success and seen setbacks, victory, and defeat. But we have never lost our belief that we are all called to a better country and a newer world. And I pledge to you -- I pledge to you that I will be there next January on the floor of the United States Senate when we begin the great test.

Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you.

For me this is a season of hope -- new hope for a justice and fair prosperity for the many, and not just for the few -- new hope.

Chris Dodd: I'm not sure America has ever had a greater Senator....

Senator Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.) speaking of his friend, Senator Edward Moore "Ted" Kennedy (D-Mass.) after Kennedy's death in 2009:

I'm not sure America has ever had a greater Senator, but I know for certain that no one has had a greater friend than I and so many others did in Ted Kennedy.
I will always remember Teddy as the ultimate example for all of us who seek to serve, a hero for those Americans in the shadow of life who so desperately needed one.
He worked tirelessly to lift Americans out of poverty, advance the cause of civil rights, and provide opportunity to all. He fought to the very end for the cause of his life - ensuring that all Americans have the health care they need.
The commitment to build a stronger and fairer America, a more perfect union, was deeply ingrained in the fiber of who he was, and what he believed in, and why he served.
That's why he stands among the most respected Senators in history. But it was his sympathetic ear, his razor wit, and his booming, raucous laugh that made him among the most beloved.
Whatever tragedy befell Teddy's family, he would always be there for them. Whatever tragedy befell the family of one of his friends, he would always be there for us. And in this moment of profound grief, our hearts are with his wonderful wife Vicki, his fantastic kids Ted Jr., Patrick, Kara, Curran, and Caroline, his grandchildren, and the wide and wonderful extended family for whom he was always a safe harbor.

I will miss him every day I serve, and every day I live.

Sen. Christopher John Dodd, Democrat, 1944-

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Source: The Huffington Post
Image source: Wikimedia Commons

MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.: Now is the time to lift our nation...

From Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous "I have a dream" speech, delivered on August 28, 1963, to a crowd of 200,000 civil rights supporters on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial during the March on Washington.

Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksand of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Democrat, 1929-1968

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Source: Wikipedia

MARTIN LUTHER KING JR: They will not be judged by the color.....

From Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous "I have a dream" speech, delivered on August 28, 1963, to a crowd of 200,000 civil rights supporters on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial during the March on Washington.

The quote featured here was not a part of Dr. King's prepared remarks. It was extemporaneous, delivered by Dr. King after the African-American gospel singer Mahalia Jackson called out to Dr. King from the crowd, shouting "Tell them about the dream, Martin!".

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Democrat, 1929-1968

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Source: Wikipedia

MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.: I have a dream.........

From Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous "I have a dream" speech, delivered on August 28, 1963, to a crowd of 200,000 civil rights supporters on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial during the March on Washington.

The quote featured here was not a part of Dr. King's prepared remarks. It was extemporaneous, delivered by Dr. King after the African-American gospel singer Mahalia Jackson called out to Dr. King from the crowd, shouting "Tell them about the dream, Martin!".

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.’

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Democrat, 1929-1968

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Source: Wikipedia

LYNDON B. JOHNSON: SPEECH TO CONGRESS INTRODUCING THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT OF 1965

President Lyndon B. Johnson's Message to the Congress The American Promise

March 15, 1965

Mr. Speaker, Mr. President, Members of the Congress:

I speak tonight for the dignity of man and the destiny of democracy.

I urge every member of both parties, Americans of all religions and of all colors, from every section of this country, to join me in that cause.

There, long-suffering men and women peacefully protested the denial of their rights as Americans. Many were brutally assaulted. One good man, a man of God, was killed.

There is no cause for pride in what has happened in Selma. There is no cause for self-satisfaction in the long denial of equal rights of millions of Americans. But there is cause for hope and for faith in our democracy in what is happening here tonight.

For the cries of pain and the hymns and protests of oppressed people have summoned into convocation all the majesty of this great Government--the Government of the greatest Nation on earth.

Sen. Graham Calls Glenn Beck a Cynic

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) called Fox News host, the tearful Glenn Beck, a "cynic"

in his comments to those attending The Atlantic's 'First Draft of History' conference.

Only in America can you make that much money crying. Glenn Beck is not aligned with any party. He is aligned with cynicism and there has always been a market for cynics. But we became a great nation not because we are a nation of cynics. We became a great nation because we are a nation of believers.

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